Tonight we have the final two play in games, that will officially set the field of 64 for the NCAA tournament. Along with the last two play in games we have four first round NIT games. In the article below I will highlight a few of my top plays from todays slate, and analysis as to why I am targeting them for my FanDuel and DraftKings lineups.
Guards
Peter Kiss (Bryant): DK 8.9k / FD 8.6K
Price king on this slate, and for good reason. He has a monster 39% usage rate and 36% shot rate. He should absolutely feast in this matchup vs. the inept defense of Wright State. Kiss is not a very good 3pt shooter and does most of his damage inside the arc and at the rim. Wright State allow teams to shoot nearly 52% from the field. Look for Kiss to have a massive day. He is by far my top spend up on the slate.
Kendric Davis (SMU): DK 8.4K
Davis is the alpha of this SMU squad, and has a chance to lead them on a good run through the NIT this year. However, it is always hard to gauge the how interested these teams are in playing in this tournament after missing out on the NCAA tournament. With that said it is hard to ignore the fact that Davis has a 28% usage rate, 26% shot rate and 28% assist rate. He can carry this team, and has massive upside, especially priced in the low-mid 8k range. Nicholls State is top 50 in the country in tempo, making this an even better spot to target Davis. Davis and Pride are my 1A and 1B top spend ups at the guard position, both are extremely strong plays with massive upside.
Charles Pride (Bryant): DK 8.2k / FD 8.4K
Bryant plays at one of the fastest tempos in the entire country, ranking 7th in tempo according to Kenpom. Pride comes into this game with a 25% usage rate and a 28% shot rate. He and Kiss are the top two guys on this Bryant squad and a majority of their offense is ran through them. Pride will play as many minutes as he can handle tonight, and with Wright State also playing up-tempo, this game will be one that you want to target. Pride comes with 50 dkpt ceiling in this spot. It is hard not to like the two studs from Bryant tonight. Not to mention Wright State rank as one of the worst teams when it comes to adj. defensive efficiency, ranking 261st, according to Kenpom.
Tanner Holden (Wright St.): DK 6.9k / FD 7.1K
Not many times throughout the year do you find guys with 50 dkpt ceilings priced below 7k, but that is exactly what we have here with Holden. Both teams are playing fast, and neither play great defense setting us up for some fantasy goodness. Holden is second on the team in usage and shot rates, just behind Basile, who I will talk about below. I think stacking this game is something that will be popular tonight, and for good reason. Make sure you get atleast two, if not three, pieces from this game in your main lineup.
Trey Calvin (Wright St.): DK 4.9k / FD 7.8k
Calvins price is just egregious, and should be someone you play in your main lineup, at the very least. We know how good the game environment is here, and how bad Bryant has been defensively. Calvin is playing well over 30 mpg and is averaging right at 27 dkpt/gm. He should easily reach 4x tonight, with a 7x ceiling. Play Calvin! Core play on DK, not nearly as strong of a play on FD at his price.
Ron Harper (Rutgers): DK 7.5K
Fat Ron is going to chuck it up a ton, and maybe pick up a few blocks along the way. Notre Dame is not a team that has the ability to lock him down, so he should be able to get whatever he wants. I like him and his 26% shot rate, and think he cruises to 4x tonight. Not someone that I will have a lot of, but definitely has GPP upside! Play you some Fat Ron tonight.
Forwards
Grant Basile (Wright St.): DK 7.3k / FD 8.1K
I really believe that these Wright State studs are mispriced tonight, and I will be overweight on both of them. Basile leads this team with a 28% usage rate and 28% shot rate. Basile is also a very strong rebounder and an above average shot blocker. Bryant is not a great rebounding team, and I think Basile cruises into a double/double tonight, and could push Kiss as the top fantasy producer on the entire slate. Basile will be a core play for me tonight at this price.
Nelly Junior-Joseph (Iona): DK 5.8K / FD 7.5k
Junior-Joseph is playing just over 30 mpg and is a strong rebounding and shot blocking presence down low for this this Iona team. He is priced at a very affordable 5.8k today and makes for a very strong play because of the low price tag. Florida, besides Castleton, are a terrible rebounding team, something I expect Nelly to take advantage of. Nelly has flashed 50 dkpt upside this year, and posted 42 dkpts vs. Bama earlier in the season. I look forward to this matchup vs. Castleton tonight, it should be a good one.
